I really enjoyed watching the Romneys behave the way one should when visiting a memorial. There was none of that "Wherever I go, Wherever I am, it is always about me. Because of my innate wonderfulness."

"The Olympics are a giant exercise in sports socialism—or crony capitalism, if you prefer—where the profits are privatized and the costs socialized. The games never pay for themselves because they are designed not to. That’s because the International Olympic Committee (an opaque “nongovernmental” bureaucracy made up of fat cats from various countries) pockets most of the revenue from sponsorships and media rights (allegedly to promote global sports), requiring the host country to pay the bulk of the costs. Among the very few times the games haven’t left a city swimming in red ink was after the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, when voters, having learned from Montreal’s experience, barred the use of public funds, forcing the IOC to use existing facilities and pick up most of the tab for new ones.

Even that’s far from fair. If anything, the Olympics should be compensating the host city for the hassle and inconvenience, not the other way around. The only reason they don’t is because the Cold War once stirred retrograde nationalistic passions, blinding the world to the ass-backwardness of the existing arrangement. Londoners are signaling that this can’t go on."

I said once people realized there was no economic value to them, the Olpympics would again be a small time amateur sports event.

Did you know, BTW, that the French were behind reviving the games because they needed to get their young men in better shape for military duties?

Baron Coubertin was dismayed because there was no physical education programs in the french system--he admired the British athletic program and fought to revive the Olympics..I guess he brought his countrymen to the point where they could raise their arms and drop rifles.
(He was a decent fellow, BTW, objecting to the UK definition of amateurism which precluded working class men from participating.

Wow, great speech. Read it with tears in my eyes. Ringing the bells of freedom both politically and economically. I must say the more I hear from Romney the more relieved I am about the outcome of the R primaries. Now if he can just turn our country around like he did the Olympics (from $400 million in debt to over $100 million balance that remained to set up a legacy trust that maintains and allows usage of the Park City Olymoic sites) then perhaps our country has a fighting shot to get out of the ditch in which we are all currently mired. I think he can and will get a big jump just through expanding energy policy. Oil and gas leases and royalties can really dramatically influence our revenues with little to no cost to our government. Not to mention huge job growth and lower energy costs which will affect everything from fuel and energy costs to plastics and costs of all consumer goods via lower transportation costs! Plus he did put out that ad on his DAY One: authorize the Keystone pipeline, bam, 20K jobs!

It's the same problem as in pro sports, with cities falling over themselves to build stadiums for privately owned for-profit sports teams, under the illusion that somehow it will "create jobs" or other benefits. All it does is line the pockets of the owners (or in this case the IOC). It will continue as long as taxpayers put up with it, which seems like forever.

I consider it part and parcel of the infatuation of cities with "the convention business" where they erect huge emporiums to cut a static pie more thinly; and also provide jobs to their mobbed up union hump constituents.

Still busy at work (it's monthend, dontcha know), but here's the great Diplomad's take on Romney's travels: link

Happy to report he's ditched the white font/black background, so it's not a physical assault on older eyes to read.

I'm also pleased everyone is becoming more pleased at Romney - it is, though, just about what I was expecting. His competency and experience as an former executive is not all about money/fiscal management; it's also about leading, defining policy, weighing tactics against strategy, strengthening relationships, etc. I'd have been surprised if he were not this effective after getting beyond the R nomination phase.

jimmyk:It's the same problem as in pro sports, with cities falling over themselves to build stadiums for privately owned for-profit sports teams, under the illusion that somehow it will "create jobs" or other benefits.

I remember when Nashville was debating building their football stadium lo these many years ago now. One group commissioned a study, the conclusion of which was that the city would be better served economically paying Wal-Mart to build a new store.

Eh, I used to have a better grasp on the details o that story, but did I mention that it was lo these many years ago?

Oh, sure that's less than 15 years ago, but these days it's a good day when I can remember falling asleep the night before.

In a special referendum on May 7, 1996, voters in Metropolitan Nashville/Davidson County voted to approve partial funding of the proposed stadium. The vote, which allocated US$144 million of public money to the project, passed with a 59% majority.[16] The pro-stadium organization, known as "NFL Yes!" outspent the anti-stadium group by a ratio of 16:1 during the campaign.

CH and other Ahayans: What's the deal with La Tourette's retirement? Sounds like he threw a hissy fit with the Rep leadership.

I presume it's good riddance to a RINO? I don't know much about him, but there are items like this in wiki:

On June 28, 2012, LaTourette was one of only two Republicans (along with Scott Rigell of Virginia) who voted against a motion to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his handling of the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal.

Surely President Obama deserves some credit for clearly defining the extent of Governor Romney's competence and extraordinary success as a businessman before the American electorate. It's not just the unheard of expenditure of over $100 million dollars in advertising focused on highlighting Governor Romney's success, it's the daily (some would say hourly) demonstration of the alternative.

Governor Romney is running an excellent campaign but the skill of his opponent cannot be underestimated (OK, it can be, but only if you use the Pitzer arithmetic rules regarding negatives).

I have another take on why the ruling elites think it is not a good idea for everyone to take algebra. If only a few people take algebra, their whole shtick about experts makes more sense. I couldn't solve a quadratic equation if my life depended on it now, but I know that I was able to perform such a task when I was in the ninth grade. Knowing that helps to keep me from being subjugated to so called experts.

Although that really confuses my memory. My memory must be of someone telling me the story at some point after the stadium was approved, because I know I was in Denver at the time I heard it -- and May 7, 1996 is exactly one week to the day before we moved to Denver.

--Surely President Obama deserves some credit for clearly defining the extent of Governor Romney's competence and extraordinary success as a businessman before the American electorate.--

True, if we're rating effectiveness of campaign/publicity tactics. I wasn't doing that exactly - I was talking about my belief in his core competency, which can (and should) be demonstrated through the campaign, but which exists independently of that specific mode of demonstration.

A few of the other Games have turned a profit, but then, the problem is when cities and countries try to throw in massive public works projects on top of a Games. Athens, Seoul, and Beijing come to mind.Nothing like a billion dollar subway tacked onto the bill.

As to the numbers, yes the IOC is opaque, but a lot of the money flows back into the federations and national olympic committees. When I started in 1984 the 3rd world NOC's got nothing. After that, money slowly filtered into the system until it became just another source of corruption in many countries.

The US actually gets the lion's share, because the US rights are the most valuable. There is a lot of resentment about this. The Games would be a bust without US TV rights.

And De Coubertin was an absolute idealist. He was inspired by the English sense of fair play and sport. Probably the first kumbaya dignitary and very keen to revive the ancient Olympic Games as a symbol of all that was good in us.

There is idealism left, but a lot of it is gone. When a 16 year old female Chinese swimmer out of nowhere surpasses the fastest swimmer in the world, one must simply suspect that her doping regimen does not yet fit the profiles. And it's not like the Chinese haven't already been caught in massive cheating scandals. Where do you think all the East German coaches and docs ended up?

Speaking of hissy fits,Olympia Snowe and Charlie Summers,the Republican Senate candidate are having a feud.Snowe won't campaign for him and so far hasn't donated to his campaign.She feels slighted because Summers didn't endorse her when she was still in the Senate race and had a Tea Party challenger. Geez...Angus King is considered the frontrunner in the Senate race.The supposed independent who recently had a fundraiser hosted by Tony Podesta.

And where did this scoring system come from? It's pretty sad when the World Champion girls gymnast doesn't qualify for the individuals. What's that all about? Looks like that Woo Hoo we tied syndrome to me. Olympics gone pc. Gotta keep it fair ya know. To hell with the worlds best athletes.

That's compared to 13 entries on the July 13 official schedule -- chronicling Obama's journeys in order to make the following campaign stops that day: Green Run High School, VA, Virginia Beach; Hampton, Phoebus High School, VA; Roanoke, Roanoke Fire Station #1, VA

July 13 could be argued to be have been a scheduling conflict. July 12? Uh, no.

we had just finished lunch in the Olympic Village in Seoul when we getting on a bus to the stadium complex and stood next to some of the EG swimmers. 6'5" - 6'10" massive wingspans, deep voices, and women. An Olympic Village is a land of mutants anyway, but that was something else.

I guess I think he should pick Portman--maybe Rubio--but I think he should hold off announcing until the convention. It's barely a month away, and the suspense should generate buzz and increase viewership.

I dunno who they've been grooming in that area if anybody since La Tourette has been such a fixture of sorts. The state Repub party for so long has been in a state of civil war between the Cleveland area Repubs and the ones of Columbus to Cincy. Let's put it this way, if there's been a conservative challenger that had been thwarted in the past, this should open the door for him or her.

I have another take on why the ruling elites think it is not a good idea for everyone to take algebra. If only a few people take algebra, their whole shtick about experts makes more sense.

I imagine that's baked into the whole thing.

They can't make the experts smarter or more worthy of respect or improve the results of their poor decisions, so the only way to keep their authority is to make everyone else both feel and actually be less capable.

There isn't enough tar and feathers, or enough rope and lampposts, for all the bastards who are foisting this madness on us.

What's the over and under on the length of Slick's speech at the donk convention? An hour and a half? Whatever the length, bet the over because over and beyond his characteristic lack of organization, this will probably be his last major forum before he dies of STDshe's killed by an irate husband he goes off to be a Vegas greeter.

Anecdotal evidence of nothing...the man next to me voted for Ted Cruz and he wasn't my husband. I accidentally saw his ballot when he sat it down to reach for his walker. So, that's 2 votes for Ted. My husband was going to vote for Dewhurst. He couldn't get away to vote. So, we didn't cancel each other out. Wonder how many Dewhurst supporters are like my husband? Not sold on Cruz but too busy to bother?

What my FiL has been saying for years. He should know, he headed one of the largest bank holding conglomerates in Europe and was a Professor of Economics at the University of Antwerp and on the board of the International Monetary Congress. He believes you will have a strong Northern Euro and a weaker devalued Southern Euro (or none at all through culling). He sees the problem being political and constitutional - what happens to the Union and Common Market apparatus (ie. the bureaucrats and their funding). I told him that would be a good idea wouldn't it but he is too European to admit it would be. They do not like to solve problems that they made. They love solving problems we have created like Microsoft and Apple and McDonald's, etc.

Smears like the 'felon' nonsense, and opening 'investigations' of Bain and tax shelters Romney invested in aren't designed to make Indies switch votes, AxelPlouffe have given up on the Indies-- the smears are designed to make the Indies stay home because they are disgusted with the entire political process.

Anti-competitive tax investigations and settlements were a Monti specialty.

DoT-

This is going to be a Chicago-style election with all of their hands on the levers of power. I'm not ruling anything out. The "Felon" game is just battleground space preparation. If it clears the ballot, they'll try it.

JiB-- thanks for the feedback -- I guess my prediction was audacious but sane. As your FIL says, the biggest obstacle to the Northern Euro is the Rube Goldberg EU Treaty framework and German constitution.

Let me see if I understand this correctly, the Obama regime labels a guy who apparently has done nothing wrong a felon, for some kind of alleged tax something.

Meanwhile the person currently in charge of such things as tax collections etc for the Obama regime admitted that he hadn't the faintest idea on how he needed to do his taxes. That he didn't even know how to look in the Yellow Pages to know who to call to do them for him before he was nominated to his position.

MelR/Ig-- I have the same observation as MelR-- right now AxelPlouffe2012 are losers, so they will do ANYTHING to get their votes out, and suppress weak Indie ABO votes. No tactic can be ruled out-- EXCEPT -- it doesn't help their cause.

"Happy to report [the Diplomad has] ditched the white font/black background, so it's not a physical assault on older eyes to read."

Amen to that! His return to blogging after so long was a welcome development, wasn't it? Given Romney's Olympic history, and Mrs. Romney's horse, it's no surprise that Romney would stop off in London, but as usual, the Diplomad makes short work of the nitty gritty:

The visit to the UK was not the main feature of the trip. The Governor's visits to Israel and Poland formed the core of the trip, so, of course, drew less press attention and what attention it did draw minimized or misinterpreted the real meaning of the visits.... The trip was about highlighting what should be the US relationship with two critical allies located in two very tough neighborhoods. Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, is virtually surrounded by anti-American retrograde forces out to destroy it. Poland finds itself confronting a resurgent and increasingly anti-American, aggressive and even Stalinist Russia that greatly resents Poland's remarkable economic success and its close relationship with the West, especially the United States. Both of these nations live on the frontiers of freedom; both have been shabbily mistreated by the Obama misadministration.

--the smears are designed to make the Indies stay home because they are disgusted with the entire political process--

Sometimes that backfires and motivates Indies to show up just to punish the hacks.

I hope these knuckleheads keep it up, or get even more vicious. They're destroying the only thing that even has them in this race, the myth of O's likability and the old hopeychangeytransendpolitics schtick.

Interesting.Romney's aide,Rick Gorka,became verbally abusive to several reporters at the tomb of the unknown soldier and began cursing at the them. CNN reports that Gorka was so angry when he screamed at reporters to "Kiss my ass" tears began streaming down his face. "He was visibly upset and shaking and another aide had to console him and bring him back to the car" according to one onlooker." Mark Jones with the AP told CNN, "I felt really bad for the guy because you could clearly see he was under a lot of stress"

Gorka later called several of the reporters whom he lashed out at and apologized. According to a press release Gorka will be leaving the campaign to spend more time with his family.

SomeGuy-- personally I am optimistic that the over the top negativity does NOT keep Indies home-- but that will be a major tactic of Obama12. If THAT fails? All they have left is getting out their vote to be within the margin of fraud in the key contested States.

It's not about discouraging Indies. Rolling gays and jacking up Watermelons and ebonic speeches assuaging failure to perform and legalizing illegals by EO are all tactics to rally a shattered base - just like encouraging the murderers, arsonists and rapists of the occupooper movement.

It's also confirmation of a correct decision by the 20+% of the Democrat Party driven out by the Kendonesian commie. The base can rally its worthless butt all day long but doing so won't replace that 20+%.

The President's campaign has moved over 15% of the Indies over to the GOP in the last month. Cross your fingers the Pinhead Troika just keeps forgering ahead.

we saw the viciousness and how it derailed McCain and Palin in 2008. We are seeing the same slander and belittling and lies we did then, only amplified.

The Left's candidate is an epic fail. His message is not resonating with the electorate. He has gone early to his core and is trying to drag his party even further to the Left.

I think one has to compare his platform versus his actions versus his results, and the constant focus on Romney as dissonant is working. It is hard to stay above the fray when the opposition is slinging buckets of mud.

How many rounds of golf has Obama played versus Romney? What is the style of his vacations? Who is the real elitist?

In addition to keeping Indies away from polls, yes Obama12 has gone ALL LEFT ALL THE TIME and pandering to Dem tribes to get them out. But the Dem Tribes are not even 40% of the electorate IF the Indies vote in their regular numbers. That is the ObamaPlouffe dilemma.